


Something Odd and Painful

by SecretsintheVoid



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Binghampton, But they lowkey not in it cuz Andrew don't really care bout them, Foxes, God I'm nervous, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, POV Andrew Minyard, Riot - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23444047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretsintheVoid/pseuds/SecretsintheVoid
Summary: "Thank you. You were amazing."The words are said wistfully and Neil is so hollow-eyed, Andrew hates it. He hates him. They leave before Andrew can shake the truth out of Neil's lying mouth; he resolves, instead, to get his answers on the bus. Maybe the others will sleep and a halfway honest answer will be spilled.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 7
Kudos: 156





	Something Odd and Painful

**Author's Note:**

> This is another Andrew's POV in the riot at Binghampton cuz I love that shit and can't get enough. This is my first fic in a few years; first fic in this fandom too. Forgive me for any errors, I accidentally wrote this while procrastinating for my finals. Please do leave comments and shit, I would really appreciate it. I really would like to get back into writing fics and AFTG is an amazing fandom to start with so lemme know what y'all think. I hope this is halfway decent.

"Thank you. You were amazing."

The words are said wistfully and Neil is so hollow-eyed, Andrew hates it. He hates him. They leave before Andrew can shake the truth out of Neil's lying mouth; he resolves, instead, to get his answers on the bus. Maybe the others will sleep and a halfway honest answer will be spilled.

The bottle hits Aaron while Andrew ponders what he's willing to trade for some honesty. The ugly chaos of a riot doesn't take long to catch fire and spread after that. Neil is left under the protection of the security guards. The deal between them is no longer viable so Andrew turns to grab Aaron and Kevin and hauls them towards the bus. He ducks back into the frothing riot once he deposits them to fetch Nicky when some bastard catches his eye with an elbow. The impact leaves him slightly woozy but his fist meets flesh and he hears a satisfying crack.

Nicky is tall and loud; it doesn't take Andrew long to snatch him from the crowd and drag him to safety. When they get back to the bus, Andrew sees that the Boyd and Wilds have made it back and Renee pulled Reynolds with her but is holding her wrist gingerly.

Everyone is accounted for except for a mouthy, terrible redhead.

Andrew turns around and heads back into the riot, slipping away from Wymack, ignoring the others telling him to stay. His mind is buzzing and he hears Neil again and again saying, "Thank you. You were amazing." His shoulders are tight and he tells himself that this is nothing. This is nothing because Neil is stupid. Neil is moronic enough to get lost in a riot and Andrew will find him and ask him what the fuck he meant when he said, "Thank you. You were amazing."

His stride is quick and hurried, not even his iron clad will can make him slow and unbothered now.

He walks in circles while the crowd dissipates. He hears some of the other Foxes calling out for Neil. There is nothing but barren, trampled ground, broken glass and trash strewn everywhere. There is no Neil. The fruitless search sets his skin crawling like leaning over a roof's edge. In all his apathy, he itches with the need to find Neil, to dismantle every part of this wretched place and burn it once he finds Neil.

When he finally stumbles upon a kicked, foot-stamped duffle bag and a dusty racket, Andrew almost laughs. The irony. _The irony_ because isn't the world so funny. The universe is hilarious, it drops this blue-eyed miracle child into Andrew's hands and rips him away just in time. Andrew almost laughs because the universe is so callous and cruel and still yet some people insist on some bullshit divinity, overseeing all of this. If there is, Andrew decides, not for the first time, that they are sick and twisted and utterly comedic.

Andrew doesn't laugh, his face is ironed out and smooth. But he drops to his knees and rips open the duffle to inspect it. For a moment, he thinks Neil has run and he wants to think, _good riddance_ in his growing ire. But instead he finds keys and a cellphone. Keys to the binder, locked in a safe so many miles away, with all of Neil's means to survival. Keys that Neil cherished, stupidly, foolishly, like a lost boy cherished Neverland.

He checks the call log on Neil's phone and sees a call from Maryland and a call that didn't go through to the same number. He wonders what has caught up to Neil. He sees a text from another number that only says, "0". He wonders if Neil knew.

The idea of Neil knowing angers him. The notion that Neil knew this would happen and he did not run or tell Andrew, that he made Andrew break their deal and _stayed_ angers him. By the time he gets back to the bus with Neil's duffle bag and racket, he is burning.

The team is staring at him when he arrives. They are clustered outside the bus debating on where Neil would be; they are stopped short when they see him and he wonders what might be showing on his face.

Dead-eyed and straight-faced, pushing his bubbling anger down, he says, "Neil is gone."

There's an explosion of protest and noise from the Foxes before Wymack bellows at them to shut the fuck up. "He's probably at a hospital, Andrew." he says, "We're calling all the local hospitals right now, we'll find him."

Andrew ignores him and throws Neil's duffle bag and racket at his feet, suddenly unable to carry their weight and meaning. He stares at Kevin's face and sees the understanding in his eyes. Every muscle in his body is wound tight but he keeps his voice flat and steady.

"Neil is gone. Something from Maryland took him."

There is silence and another eruption of noise because the Foxes were never the type to shut up and think. But Kevin catches his eye. Kevin is silent and ghostly pale now; he looks like he's about to faint. His hands are shaking, he looks defeated and mournful. Andrew wonders what's in Maryland. He wonders what Kevin knows.

Andrew's rage rears its ugly head, so harsh now that it makes his vision shift, hazy and wild. It is more than a blip in his endless void - it is bright and burning and oh so willing to _hurt_. He goes still but for deep, quiet breaths; the shiver of anger that follows is made all the more obvious for it.

His quiet voice is laced with his wrath, cutting enough to shut everyone up. "What is it that you know Kevin."

Kevin's green eyes go wide and terrified. "I don't-, what? I don't know, I don't know anything."

There is nothing cool nor clever about this matchbox fury, it is a wildfire in a dry field. 

"Tell me what it is you know or I will force you. You will not enjoy it."

There is brutish, animal violence in his hands now, in his knuckles where skin is pulled taut. Kevin's mouth hangs open, stupid and scared. He is taking too long to answer.

Andrew's hands are wrapped around Kevin's throat and he is shoving him against the bus. Any memory of a promise made is washed out and burned away in the blinding light of his savage temper. Vaguely, he's aware that he's snarling, "Tell me now Day, _tell me_."

There is more screaming, hands pushing and pulling him away but his focus is single-minded. He will know what happened to Neil, he will know now. Renee is the one to break through the rage. She twists his wrist until he's forced to let go and says ever so calmly, "Kevin can't speak if you're choking him, Andrew."

He steps away, allowing her to put distance between him and Kevin but his eyes never leaves his target.

It takes him a few moments but the truth spills out of Kevin's lips. The Butcher of Baltimore has finally come to collect his son, the son he almost sold to the Moriyamas as a pet and investment almost a decade ago. The Butcher of Baltimore has finally come to carve up his son and make him pay for the years of trouble and humiliation he has cost his father. The Butcher of Baltimore has come to take Neil away from Andrew.

Dan is the first to speak when Kevin is finished. "We have to call the police. Or the FBI. Someone. We have to get him back now."

Kevin shakes his head. "There's nothing we can do. The police have always been in the Butcher's pocket. Besides, Nathaniel was taken hours ago. He's probably already dead or worse. He-"

"Shut the fuck up, Kevin. No one wants to hear that shit, what the fuck is wrong with you. We have to do something." Allison sounds biting as ever but she looks shaken.

Andrew is quiet. He walks away from the noise as the Foxes debate the merits of calling the police or FBI, as they ask Renee if she has the FBI's number, or what they should do. He climbs into the bus and spends a half hour trying to smoke, stubbing out every cigarette because they taste of Neil under a setting sun. He hears Kevin say _dead or worse_ on loop and he remembers telling Neil not to come crying to him when someone breaks his face. He thinks about laughing at all of the irony again as he crushes another cigarette. His hands are shaking but there's no more anger left in them. 

Wymack herds the rest of the Foxes back onto the bus, saying that he will be calling the feds so the rest of them best be quiet. Andrew stares at the ceiling while his mind runs with all the things said and done, his hands are shaking, he feels so much he could burst. He feels like he's dangling over a cliff with nothing holding him back. He hates Neil, he hates him for doing this to him. He needs Neil here so that he can strangle him, himself.

His ears catch surprise in Wymack's voice and focuses on it. 

"Where? …Okay, yes, we'll see you there." Wymack turns to them and says, "They found Neil. We're going to Baltimore to see him right now."

Something odd and painful flutters in his chest. He hates Neil even more for it.


End file.
